But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. The magicians replicate the plague — adding more frogs to a land already overrun with them. This is the last plague they will successfully replicate; their arts will fail at the gnats in verse 18. But here the replication raises a pointed question: why would they add more frogs when Egypt is already suffering under them? The magicians can produce the plague but not remove it — they can match the affliction but not provide the relief. This is the defining limitation of every power that opposes God: it can create problems but cannot solve them. John 10:10 contrasts the thief who comes to steal and destroy with Jesus who comes to give life abundantly. Egypt's magicians are thieves of a different kind — they can multiply misery but cannot multiply blessing.

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